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Foreign Office Minister, Alistair Burt, spoke about the UK’s optimism about the prospects for the Arab Spring and the Middle East in a speech to the Middle East Association on 21 March.

Speaker:

Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt

Location:

Middle East Association

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I am truly honoured to have been invited to address such an important assembly and am delighted to do so alongside my friend, and close colleague Dr. Anwar Gargash.

Looking around the room, I am struck by the diversity of people here: businessmen and women, investors, ambassadors, and politicians; those from North Africa, from the Middle East, from the Gulf and from the UK. We have different backgrounds and different perspectives. But I believe that fundamentally, we all share a common ambition for the region: security, stability and prosperity for all.

We will all have different means of working towards that goal. But in my remarks today, let me give you the perspective of policymakers in London – the perspective of a country outside the region; but one that is nevertheless deeply connected with developments there and one which places great importance on its longstanding relationships with countries across the Middle East.